Organizers of South Coast Bikeway project taking next steps to move ahead

Organizers of the South Coast Bikeway campaign to create trails from the Rhode Island border in Swansea to the Cape Cod Canal felt a glitch in their plans after Gov. Deval Patrick’s mega-transportation spending package was gutted by state legislators that would have dedicated $430 million to constructing and improvin...

Organizers of the South Coast Bikeway campaign to create trails from the Rhode Island border in Swansea to the Cape Cod Canal felt a glitch in their plans after Gov. Deval Patrick’s mega-transportation spending package was gutted by state legislators that would have dedicated $430 million to constructing and improving bicycle and pedestrian facilities managed by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

“We’re still going to move ahead; it was a slight set-back, but there was never a guarantee,” said Jacqueline Schmidt, the senior transportation planner for Southeastern Regional Planning & Economic Development District overseeing the ambitious bikeway project.

The South Coast Bikeway project started in 2011 with the South Coast Bikeway Committee working on plans to build the bikeway that will feature both on- and off-road trails and link the cities and towns of Swansea, Somerset, Fall River, Westport, Dartmouth, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Marion and Wareham, and could include routes to the campuses of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Bristol Community College.

Completed portions of the bikeway already exist within six miles in Mattapoisett, Fairhaven and Fall River. Two more miles in Fall River and Mattapoisett are in the design stage, and a plan for a 12-mile section will link Wareham and Bourne.

Just recently the Saulnier Bike Trail along Clark’s Cove in New Bedford has been added to the project as a spur bikeway, said Schmidt.

Plans have all but been completed, but funding continues to be a major barrier.

One hurdle the planners have recently overcome was MassDOT’s decision to reverse a standing policy against creating shared rail and bicycle trails.

The decision was announced in March by Richard Davey, secretary of transportation, who acknowledged that MassDOT’s method of decision-making of converting old rail lines to trails was done on a case-by-case basis that results in little or no progress in bikeway projects.

“That’s enormous,” said Julie Kelly, after a bikeway summit in March. “The SouthCoast needs to catch up to the other parts of the state that have rail-to-trail.”

Kelly, the coordinator for the Fall River Mass in Motion and a member of the South Coast Bikeway Committee, said being allowed to create portions of the planned 40-mile bikeway is crucial to the project.

The coalition of local biking and health organizations that makes up the bikeway committee continues to work on funding the project, said Kelly.

They are taking a suggestion made by state Rep. Bill Straus, D-Mattapoisett, during the March summit: With added funding infused into the state’s Chapter 90, money given to cities and towns for transportation projects would increase from $200 million to $300 million. Straus said the money can be used for biking and hiking trails.

Kelly said the committee plans to work with leaders in each community on the bikeway to explore whether funds are available to help with the project in their town or city.